


my mirror staring back at me

by jolybird



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, doppleganger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 05:24:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21030953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jolybird/pseuds/jolybird
Summary: A routine research trip during the Summer of '96 leaves Fred scrambling for the one thing he thought he'd never lose.





	my mirror staring back at me

**Author's Note:**

> I originally went into this planning on writing something creepy but ended up with the Weasley siblings teaming up to rescue one of their own. Thanks to K for the quick beta and to the mods for hosting! I really enjoyed writing for this prompt!!

There was an algae that bloomed in the watery tunnels beneath the city of London. Instead of emitting light, it sucked the light from the world around them and held it tight within its cells and warmed itself with the power. A lesser wizard would be interested in that light-power, but Fred and George Weasley were not lesser wizards, and they needed that instant darkness.  
For perfectly innocent reasons, of course.  
The pair of them were waist-deep in murky seawater, bags full of jars of algae. There were signs of merpeople everywhere down here—these were their tunnels, after all, their way of moving around unseen. But nothing looked recent enough to cause worry. Given their current political climate and the rights merpeople were stripped of in the 70s, Fred would rather stick to the ocean as well. Especially with all this Death Eater nonsense going on. Maybe they should be focused on chucking Harry into the middle of the Atlantic, submerging him on the seafloor. He couldn’t quite picture slimy gits like Malfoy knowing how to swim.  
There was a splash behind him and a cut-off shout from George and Fred turned, his wand illuminating only half of what it was supposed to because of the algae. George stood up from where he had slipped and fallen into the water, the absence of light reflected strangely in his eyes for a moment—they appeared to ripple, which was an interesting thought. “You alright there, Georgie?” Fred laughed.  
George looked at him blankly for a moment before he laughed, rather oddly, as well.  
“Let’s get back before the others wake up and notice we’re gone,” Fred said, exhausted from the outing. He climbed out of the water and onto the embankment that led to a pathway that would take them to the Underground. There shouldn’t be any trains yet, it was still ungodly early in the morning, so they’d had their run of the place and would be able to slip back onto the streets unnoticed. George next to him was silent but despite their reputation, he sometimes got like that. Fred charmed both himself and his brother dry and led the way back to their flat. 

*

“Oh, you have a mind to sleep the whole morning away, do you?” His mum sighed, standing in the doorway like a muggle superhero swooping in to save the day.  
Fred, who had just moments ago been dragged from sleep to tell her that exact thing, sighed, “Well, not the whole morning, just most of it.”  
“George is already downstairs—which was a shock to all of us—so I’ll just tell him he can have your share of breakfast, shall I?”  
Fred sighed and began detangling himself from the quilt.  
“That’s what I thought,” his mum said, checking something off her morning’s to-do list before turning and marching back down the hall.  
Fred seriously flirted with the idea of laying back down—he and George had been up half the night wading around in the muck, and they deserved some rest— but now that she’d put the thought of food into his head, he couldn’t shake the lure of eggs and tomatoes. He didn’t bother changing—he had just thrown these pants on a few hours ago, and the dust bunnies didn’t care what he wore as he massacred them—he just dragged his semi-conscious body down the stairs to where everyone was gathered around the breakfast table looking like they were already dreading Mum’s battle plan for the day.  
Sirius, however, glared directly at him. “Did you break into the alcohol cabinet last night?” he asked. It was cute that he thought there was an alcohol cabinet in this flat and that there weren’t dusty bottles of pretentious spirits hidden behind the odd faux novel or loose floorboard in nearly every room. None of them had had any adverse effects on them yet, so Fred was fairly confident they hadn’t belonged to the matriarch of the Black family.  
“Do you really think we’re the sort to pilfer a man’s booze without offering him some?”  
Sirius narrowed his eyes like he hadn’t quite figured that out yet, and Fred’s offended expression had Lupin leaning in to expertly change the conversation with a, “Molly, what’s on the agenda for today?”  
Ron and Ginny groaned loudly and Harry just stared blankly at his mushrooms. He stared blankly at a lot of things these days; maybe today they should focus on Operation Cheer Up the Chosen One.  
He glanced at George but his twin was sitting up straight, pushing his food around his plate and taking an almost too-small bite every couple of minutes like clockwork.  
Fred knew all his siblings just about as well as he knew himself, so he was always taken aback when they suddenly started axing chickens, disowning the family, seeing stuck-up, better-than-everyone French girls, etc., etc. He probably should have anticipated about half of it (especially after Ron and Harry had to drag Ginny from the sewers beneath Hogwarts) because, one, they were in the middle of a bloody war; and two, people, his siblings included, rarely trusted their instincts and therefore did all manner of ridiculous things. Perce in particular was going to have his arse handed to him as soon as he removed his head from it.  
But Fred knew his siblings, and he knew George was acting off. He had always been the last one down for breakfast when they were kids and he’d be the last one down for breakfast when they were ancient things hobbling around with beards the size of Dumbleore’s.  
The past few years hadn’t been the easiest: Ginny had been captured by Lord bloody Voldemort risen from the dead, Ron had been captured by the Ministry of bloody Magic as part of a school tournament and left to float at the bottom of the lake, and the best Defense Against the Dark Arts professor they’d ever had was outed as a werewolf (he was now their flatmate, so at least that one had a happy ending). And of course, Cedric Diggory, of all people, had been murdered right in front of Harry.  
Now they were locked up in Sirius Black’s (wanted mass murderer Sirius Black, who turned out to be Padfoot, their bloody hero, Harry’s godfather, and exploding snap extraordinaire) ancestral flat, hiding from Death Eaters and forced to clean out centuries worth of dust and grime and house elf heads (he was fully aware he was a bit traumatized from that last one).  
There was one thing Fred could control in all of this: he was going to figure out exactly what was bothering his twin, and he was going to help make it right.  
*  
Later, he wouldn’t be quite sure if it was because he was paying such close attention to his twin or if it was just that George was his twin, which meant he knew him just as well, if not better, than he knew himself.  
They were all filing downstairs for lunch when Ginny, who had been walking behind them, suddenly knocked past Fred as she stumbled down the stairs. Ginny, budding Quidditch player that she was, caught herself on the railing before Fred could reach out to grab her. She turned as Hermione ran to help her to her feet and she laughed at herself for her stumble, but Fred looked to George behind him. He was expressionless and, for a very weird moment, almost looked disappointed as he passed Fred on the stairs.  
Fred stopped short, causing Harry to bump into the back of him.  
That wasn’t his brother.  
First, he had to find out where his brother was. Second, he had to kill this thing.  
“You alright?” Harry asked him, fixing his glasses so that they sat straight on his face. Ginny must have knocked into him first.  
He had to get Harry away from the thing, and then he could find George and kill it.  
“Peachy. Race you all to the bottom.,” Fred shouted and apparated to the bottom of the steps.  
For a heartbeat he stood listening to the pounding of his siblings’ feet on the stairs and then swore under his breath. George hadn’t apparated with him.  
Fuck.  
That thing really wasn’t his twin. And now that he thought about it, Fred hadn’t even seen his twin’s wand since this morning. Without waiting for them to reach the bottom of the stairs, he went to Ron’s room, where he knew he was still sulking from an argument he and Hermione had an hour prior.  
“You need to get Harry away from George,” Fred said the moment he apparated into his room.  
“What did he do?” Ron laughed without looking up from the Chudley Cannons magazine he was engrossed in.  
“You might want to put that down.”  
Ron let the magazine hit the bed with a soft thump and looked up at him with a smile on his face.  
“George...isn’t George.”  
The smile instantly vanished. “What do you mean, George isn’t George?”  
“Whatever that is tried to push Gin down the stairs, and he hasn’t apparated or used magic once since we got back.”  
“Back? Where did you go?” Ron asked. His eyebrows were furrowed, but Fred could see him fighting back a smile.  
“Research trip.”  
“Fred.”  
“You sound like Mum.”  
Ron scowled. “We’ll go up to the attic.”  
“Bring a broom in case you have to escape.”  
Ron glared at him. “I hate this,” he said as Fred laughed.  
Fred apparated back downstairs to where everyone was gathered in one of the sitting areas to pick at the lunch Lupin and Mum had prepared. It was mostly snacks, but Mum had also made little sandwiches. He got himself a plate of food just in time for Ron to come barreling into the room, a picture of guilt. He took an entire plate of sandwiches and then put some extra fruit on Harry’s plate before he turned and stomped his way back upstairs. Harry frowned at Hermione, who huffed and rolled her eyes. For a moment, Fred thought Harry wasn’t going to follow his brother, but then he got up and went after him. Fred glanced at George, but he wasn’t looking at any of them; he was staring at his food, only taking a bite after Hermione had a bite from her own plate. Fred went to sit on the steps so he could watch George without being obvious about it.  
Was it George’s body? Was it someone else impersonating him with polyjuice potion? Was the real George being held captive somewhere?  
“Why are we watching George?” Gin whispered dramatically, and Fred flinched so badly his entire plate nearly went crashing down the stairs.  
“That’s not him.”  
Gin was quiet for a moment and then gasped, “It’s not—look!”  
Not-George mimicked Lupin and pushed his chair back to get himself a glass of water from the pitcher Mum had put on the mantel. George hadn’t gotten up to get anything since April. “It’s mimicking everyone.”  
“Trying to fit in.” Ginny looked to him and then pushed herself off the step. “Do you think that’s a Death Eater?”  
As Not-George passed by the window, its entire body did the same odd rippling that George’s eyes had done in the sewers earlier that morning. “Did you see that?”  
“Hermione!” Ginny called suddenly. “The boys are asking for you!”  
Hermione sat on the couch, the picture of stubborn politeness.  
“Hermione,” Ginny repeated. This time her voice sounded forced, and Hermione got up to join them.  
“What’s going on?” she asked.  
Ginny dragged the pair of them upstairs to her room. She flung herself onto the bed as Fred cast a muffling charm on the door.  
“Oh, I don’t like the look on either of your faces right now,” Hermione said with a frown, crossing her arms and refusing to sit even as Fred sat down on her bed. Hermione always somehow had the most comfortable pillows. He secretly thought she had gone into everyone’s rooms and taken the best ones for herself.  
“George and I went out this morning for a little research trip. We went down into the Mertunnels.”  
“The Mertunnels under the city? As in outside; as in anyone could have seen you?”  
“We were careful! This place is like a mini King’s Cross, anyway—people coming and going isn’t a big concern right now.”  
Hermione shook her head, effectively dismissing the whole idea. “Okay, you went into the Mertunnels, and...what?”  
“We don’t think George came back,” Ginny said, and Fred’s stomach dropped. When she put it that way…he put his half-finished plate on the nightstand. “Whatever’s down there isn’t him.”  
“I believe you only because of how quiet he’s been today,” Hermione said. “I thought something was wrong, but...not this wrong. Okay, have you noticed anything strange?”  
“Well, it pushed me down the stairs this morning.” Ginny frowned. “And it sort of rippled as it walked through the sunlight.”  
“Oh my god, is my twin a vampire?” George wondered aloud.  
“He’s been mimicking everyone, as if it doesn’t know how to do anything,” Ginny added.  
“It could be a doppelganger,” Hermione reasoned. “In Ancient Myths of Londontown, there’s a whole chapter about the summer of 1856 when there was a whole infestation of doppelgangers in the city. It was rumored those who weren’t killed fled underground to hide. There have been documented doppelganger sightings in the Underground ever since; most famously when they were opening it seven years later. So, if you went down there into the even more deserted Mertunnels, it’s entirely possible you found one.”  
Ginny pushed herself off her bed and went digging around in Hermione’s things.  
“Oh, be careful,” Hermione said with a frown, but didn’t do anything to stop Ginny’s rampage. After a moment, Ginny emerged with a textbook. Hermione’s eyes predictably lit up as she said, “That’s an excellent idea!”  
Ginny sat back down on her bed and Hermione stopped her pacing to sit next to her. Together they flipped through the book.  
Suddenly, the door flew open. Ginny let out a little scream as they all dove for their wands.  
“Calm down, it’s just me,” Bill said as if he showed up frequently, carefully shutting the door behind him. Fred cast another muffling charm on the door, just in case. “Mum said George was acting off when she flooed us earlier, and I know the pair of you wouldn’t let a little thing like a second wizarding war put a damper on any of your plans, so I figured something was up. I’m here to see if he’s gotten himself poisoned or cursed or what have you.”  
Fred frowned and decided to not let the opportunity for help slip away. “We don’t think he’s possessed because he hasn’t done an ounce of magic since we got back this morning.”  
“So—what, you think that’s a doppelganger downstairs?”  
“Exactly,” Hermione whispered.  
“Well, only one way to find out. Let me go make it a cup of tea. It’s down there picking at grapes like it’s never seen them before.” Bill turned and left just as abruptly as he arrived.  
Fred and Ginny both turned to Hermione. “Do dopplegangers...not like tea?” Fred asked.  
“Doppelgangers are very...well, almost like muggle ghosts,” Hermione said. “They burn if salt touches them, sage keeps them away, you trap them by waving your wand in a large circle as you cast a binding charm.” The book was open to a picture of two identical people standing face to face. Cute. It wasn’t as if something stealing your twin’s face wasn’t an absolutely terrifying concept.  
“Hermione, if my brother doesn’t get his head out of his arse soon, I’m going to snatch you up myself.”  
“Fred!” Ginny hissed. Hermione tucked her hair behind her ear and blushed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She pushed herself to her feet and headed towards the door. “Come on, let’s go see what Bill’s—”  
Bill appeared in the middle of the room, and Hermione had her wand out and pointed at him even before she could fully spin around.  
“Put salt in the tea,” Bill said. “It didn’t suspect it and took a sip; its mouth steamed, and for a moment it just flicked out of sight. It’s a doppelganger.”  
“So, our two resident experts, what does a doppleganger do to its...doppelgangee?” Fred asked.  
Hermione frowned. “It doesn’t really have to do anything to them. It needs a DNA sample, but...it doesn’t…George is still probably in the Mertunnels.”  
“What in the name of Morgana’s tits were you doing in the Mertunnels?” Bill asked.  
“Research.” Ginny answered for him.  
Bill opened his mouth but just shook his head and sat down on the bed, nearly on top of Fred’s legs. He moved them out of the way and leaned back, trying to pretend he wasn’t close to completely freaking out. “What do we do now?”  
“We have to capture the doppelganger first so we can bring it back with us,” Hermione said.  
“Can’t we just kill it?” George asked.  
“It didn’t do anything wrong.”  
“It took George.”  
Hermione frowned, looking up at him from her book. “We’re only going to have one shot at this, so we have to make sure we do this perfectly.”  
“Doesn’t lavender stun them?” Bill said, interrupting them. “Or rosemary?”  
“Sage,” Hermione supplied.  
Bill nodded and Fred sat up. He didn’t want to capture it; he wanted to get rid of it and then he wanted to get his twin back.  
“It could have George hidden away, and we’ll never find him without its help,” Ginny said quietly. Fred looked at her and the worry in her eyes before he nodded and let Bill and Hermione talk their way through the text.  
*  
Fred was going to lose his fucking mind. They had been trying to corner and capture the creature for hours now, and finally, they’d had to call it a night and try to get it after everyone else had gone to bed. Everyone usually stayed up late talking, but Hermione had slipped a drop of sleeping draught into their tea and everyone was now tucked up safely in their beds. Well, everyone except Ron (who still hadn’t told Harry anything was up and was now keeping guard at their door, just in case the doppelganger went for him last minute), Ginny, Hermione and Bill (who had raided the kitchen for supplies). The group of them were hiding in the bedroom next door until the house went quiet.  
Fred laid down and pulled his blankets up around him. He shut his eyes as Not-George fumbled with the blankets and then tucked itself in as well. He wasn’t sure if doppelgangers needed to sleep like humans, but then again, they weren’t going to give it a chance to rest.  
Bill pushed the door open a little and came in carrying one of the Black family’s more hideous serving bowls. Something rolled around inside it and Bill, casual as could be, placed the bowl on the ground in front of him and took the lid off. He picked a jar of salt out and held it in his hand. “Hey guys,” he said calmly.  
Not-George was watching the salt with narrowed eyes.  
Ginny and Hermione came in and Ginny took the salt from Bill. She went over to stand by the far side of George’s bed and said, “We decided to play a game.”  
She started pouring salt around the bed as she walked. Hermione looked nervous, but Bill and Ginny kept it natural. Fred cast a silencing charm on the room and climbed out of bed.  
The doppelganger mimicked him as it climbed to his feet. “What kind of game?” It asked in a voice that sounded more like Fred’s than George’s.  
“George,” Ginny said, rolling her eyes in a picture of fondness as she poured salt in front of the door. Hermione put a thin line in front of the window as well. “Don’t pretend like you don’t know what sort of game we’re gonna play.”  
Fred caught Bill’s eye and together they raised their wands. They waved them in a large circle and the doppleganger’s eyes burned. It made to dart away from them but Hermione threw a fistful of salt at it and it hissed, twisting away.  
“Capistrus,” Fred shouted, trying to focus on keeping his wand in a perfect circle. If they blew this chance—  
“Rabt,” Bill shouted, “Sigillum clausas!”  
The doppelganger flickered back and forth, writhing a bit as it tried to find an escape, but Ginny had a whole container of salt in her hands and she began to throw fistfuls at it with abandon.  
“Stricta alliges duplicia,” Bill and Fred finished, and the doppelganger froze.  
Not-George disintegrated in front of them—just up and melted into a puddle that reflected the light oddly. Bill quickly waved his wand in a large circle once more and pointed to the jar. “Capistrus.”  
The murky sludge of the doppelganger was dragged across the floorboards and pooled itself into the serving bowl. Ginny slammed the top on it and Bill sealed it with a quick _clauditis auferetur_.  
The serving dish sat silently on the floor. Ginny picked it up and said “Come on” as she stormed out of the bedroom.  
The group climbed silently downstairs and into the dining room. “Come on, we have to sneak out the back window so Walburga doesn’t alert the world to the fact that we lost George,” Ginny said.  
Fred opened the window; as soon as he did so, Ginny pushed the dish into his hands and jumped out. “Gin!’ Bill hissed, “Get back in here. You’re not going with us.”  
She ignored him, swearing loudly, and Fred handed her the doppelganger-filled dish. She tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for him to climb down. As soon as his feet hit the sidewalk, the flat vanished. He couldn’t decide if that was cool or unnerving tonight.  
Bill knocked into him as he landed on the sidewalk. “Talked Hermione into staying,” he said. Ginny frowned but waved to where Hermione was watching them.  
“Follow me,” Fred said, retracing his steps with more urgency than he and George had had that morning. George had been trapped down there for an entire day; there was no way of knowing what sort of trouble he was in.  
But he was alive. Fred would know if his brother was gone. He would just...feel it. He would know.  
George was alive.  
They made it as far as the train tracks in the Highbury and Islington station before footsteps sounded stomping up to them; for a moment, Fred honestly thought it was their mother chasing them down.  
“What do you mean you lost George,” Charlie called out instead from behind them. Fred whipped around but Charlie ducked and threw up a shield charm automatically.  
“What are you doing here?” Gin demanded, hands on her hips.  
“I heard you lost George, so here I am. How in Merlin’s name did you lose him?”  
“Research trip,” Gin frowned.  
“Researching what?”  
Fred crossed his arms and began walking down the tunnel. There were still trains running and he didn’t want to get caught down here. “Classified Weasley business,” he said.  
“Try again.”  
“Algae,” Fred replied with a shrug.  
Charlie shut his eyes. Bill simply tossed an extra bundle of sage at him; Charlie somehow caught it as he opened his eyes again. Bloody seeker reflexes.  
Fred turned and glared at Bill, who just shrugged. “I figured if we were dealing with magical creatures, we might as well call in an expert.”  
“Give it to me,” Charlie said as he took the serving dish from Bill. “Come on. I’ve never been down here, but I’ve always wanted to have a look.”  
Fred led the way into the Mertunnel and his siblings froze as he plunged into the water. “I think it dragged George under. It only lasted for a second.”  
“Fred…” Bill began, but Gin jumped into the water as well and their older brothers could do nothing but follow them. They waded in deeper until the light from their wands began to stop in odd spots.  
“The algae eats light,” Fred helpfully supplied.  
“Neat,” Gin whispered as Bill and Charlie swore to one another.  
They continued farther, past where Fred and George had gone that morning.  
“What are we looking for?” Charlie asked.  
“Where do doppelgangers live?” Bill said. “Do they have homes?”  
Charlie handed Fred the dish and he and Bill went ahead as the light started to get dimmer and dimmer. They waded into deeper waters, moving their hands in sweeping motions in front of them.  
“Are they looking for George?” Gin whispered, grabbing onto his arm.  
“Course not,” Fred said, even though he knew that was exactly what they were doing. If George had been in the water all day, he would have known.  
“Gin, hold on to him,” Charlie said. It was so dark now that Fred couldn’t even see them; the only things he could make out were the black of the water, the white of the serving dish and the outline of Ginny next to him.  
Ginny tightened her grip on his arm. “I have him,” she replied. “Why?” Fred’s heart hammered in his chest.  
“It’s getting dark, and I don’t want to lose anyone.”  
Fred glanced to Gin to see that she was looking at him, too.  
In front of them, Bill swore.  
“What is it?”  
“Something brushed my leg, but I can’t see a single—”  
Gin gasped. “Go right. There’s a breeze—I think I see a light.”  
Fred couldn’t see shit, but he let Gin lead him towards the right. Where they should have hit a wall, they kept going, and the dish in his hands rattled.  
Bill and Charlie, who were now behind them, pushed them forwards. After several more moments of wading in the pitch dark, they could see a light up ahead. Bill took the dish from him. Fred and Gin raced through the water until they could pull themselves up onto a walkway that led around a bend.  
“Stay together,” Charlie hissed. He and Bill climbed up after them, but Fred didn’t wait. He raced around the corner and nearly collapsed with relief.  
George was sitting against a wall, his hands bound in front of him. He looked tired but in one piece.  
“Oh, hey,” George said as he looked up, his voice hoarse but cheerful. “I was just about to look for you myself.”  
“No you weren’t,” Charlie said gently as he knelt down to undo the rope around George’s wrists. His skin was raw and bled when the rope was peeled away. “Well, you actually almost had this off.”  
George lifted his chin while Charlie glanced at the others. Of course he’d nearly gotten out; did they expect him to stay trapped forever? “How long was I down here for?” he asked.  
“Don’t tell him,” Fred warned even as Bill said, “Most of the day.”  
George looked at his siblings evenly. “I know. I’m sorry.”  
Charlie suddenly froze and then licked his hand. Honestly, Fred would be lying if he said he was surprised by it. “The water in the tunnel’s fresh water,” Charlie said.  
“Yeah; must be because doppelgangers hate salt,” Fred reasoned as if this wasn’t brand new information.  
“Why the fuck are there two Bills?” George said suddenly, looking behind them.  
Not-Bill stood in the entryway of the room. His eyes were dark and he looked absolutely furious.  
“We don’t want any trouble,” Charlie said, taking the dish the other doppelganger was trapped in and putting it down in front of them. Fred and Gin leaned in closer to George, who was looking between Bill and Not-Bill as if it was the most amusing thing he’d ever seen. Fred let him have the moment; the novelty would quickly wear off.  
Charlie unbound the jar with a quick flick of his wrist and the muck went pouring out. It rose into a vaguely human-like shape, and Not-Bill’s expression softened.  
“We don’t want any trouble, but you need to get out of here now and leave us alone,” Charlie said again, and honestly, let the man speak. They all had a small jar of salt and a bundle of sage in their pockets (well, maybe; Fred hadn’t checked since they’d gotten out of the water) and that was it.  
Not-Bill wavered and then turned into shapeless muck. Fred turned to George when he tugged on his arm, and when he glanced back, the doppelgangers were gone.  
“You thought that was me?” George asked, turning back towards them.  
“Well, obviously,” Fred began, rolling his eyes at his twin.  
“You thought that was me?”  
“It didn’t look—”  
“You thought that was me!”  
“Stop getting yourself worked up, I’m not carrying you out of here,” Charlie hissed, yanking George’s arm up to rest more comfortably on his shoulders.  
“Yeah,” Fred added. “If we have to carry you into Grimmauld Place, Mum and Dad are definitely going to notice.”  
“Mum and Dad don’t even know I was missing?” George asked. “They still think that thing is me?”  
“I’m going to hex you if you don’t—”  
“Muffliato,” Bill whispered, and George’s mouth opened in a silent, offended squawk.  
“Nice.” Fred said, sidestepping his twin’s attempt to hit him.  
They reached the water’s edge and Gin motioned for them to stop. There were two merpeople watching them from the corner of the room. Their hair was spread out along the surface of the water, and their eyes glowed a golden color.  
“We’re taking our brother and leaving, thank you,” Fred told them and then jumped in the water to leave.  
His siblings gasped, but nothing reached out and grabbed him. He glanced at the doppelgangers (the merpeople had to be the doppelgangers, hadn’t they?) and saw that they were just watching him with their pale yellow eyes. “Come on,” he said to his siblings. “Let’s go.”  
Bill and Charlie looked around for another exit, but the only way out was the way they came in. They’d have to wade through waist-deep water in near darkness. So, you know, a normal Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Huh, Fred actually had no idea. Bill jumped down and caught George as he tumbled more than climbed into the water.  
“Is anyone else freezing?” George asked.  
“You’ll have some tea in a bit,” Bill replied.  
“I can’t believe I was abandoned by my own family.”  
“If you don’t stop moaning, I’m going to see if we can trade back.” Charlie hit the back of Fred’s head and pushed him forward. “Ginny, take Fred’s hand and don’t let go.”  
“I did bring my wand, you know, and if I have to use it, I will,” she said.  
“You will do no such thing,” Bill told her, and Gin took Fred’s arm and started dragging him through the water faster.  
They made their way towards the darkness and Gin took the lead. George and Charlie were right behind them and Bill was behind them.  
“If you wrinkle my shirt—” George whispered to her as Charlie shushed him.  
“If I let go, that means they’ve got me,” Gin said.  
“Just don’t wrinkle my shirt,” George whispered back.  
“Oh I’ll—”  
“Hush,” Bill interrupted. “Did you hear something?”  
“I can’t hear anything with you all bickering,” Charlie replied.  
They sloshed through the darkness in silence for a moment, hyper-aware of every splash and trickle of water, before Charlie, Bill and Fred all lit their wands at once.  
Dim light was better than nothing, especially when it was growing stronger with every step they took.  
After approximately three lifetimes, the path to the Underground and dry land reappeared and Fred pushed Gin up to shore. She glared at him as she helped first him, and then his twin, up onto solid ground.  
George still looked a little worse for wear, so Fred cast drying and heating charms on him.  
“Cheers,” George said with a smile, but it dropped suddenly. “Do I have my—” He patted his pocket and relaxed. “Wand’s in my pocket.”  
Charlie and Bill dried themselves off and then all but pushed the three of them up back to the Underground.  
“What time is it?” Gin asked.  
“Don’t care,” Bill replied. “In the morning, Mum will be so excited I came to visit she won’t even notice how terrible George looks.”  
“If she didn’t notice I was sludge, she won’t notice I’m not my usual handsome self,” George said and promptly tripped. All four of his siblings caught him. “Cheers.”  
Bill ran ahead to check if the cost was clear on the platform, and when he saw it wasn’t, conjured up the image of a cute little cat to distract them all.  
“Oh, that’s a neat trick,” George whispered as Fred and Charlie hoisted him onto the platform.  
“I”m not telling it to you. The pair of you got into enough trouble today as it is.”  
“Oi, why am I being roped into this?” Fred protested. “I wasn’t the one who got captured by—”  
Gin yawned. “Come on, Hermione and Ron are waiting up for us.”  
“Bet Ron’s already asleep.”  
“Of course he isn’t,” Gin hissed, and then they were back on the sidewalk. 

*  
Fred shut the window, proud of himself and his siblings for sneaking their way back in. If Sirius didn’t want them sneaking out, he wouldn’t have told them how to sneak back in, he reasoned.  
Someone cleared their throat behind them and they all spun around. George stopped leaning on Charlie and Bill went to step ahead of them all. Lupin was sitting in a chair at the head of the table. Thankfully, Hermione was nowhere to be seen.  
Lupin frowned when he took in the way George was holding his wrists at his side.  
“Don’t tell Mum,” they chorused.  
He laughed and shook his head. “Is everything alright?”  
“Crisis averted,” George smiled, going for charming but he needed to have a lie down. Lupin grabbed his hand and cast a healing charm over the broken skin. “You’re going to tell me what happened, or I’ll have to go wake your parents,” he said.  
Fred frowned, but Charlie shrugged and replied, “Doppelgangers took George and we had to go get him back.”  
“We thought it might have been after Harry, but it was more interested in George,” Gin added.  
“At least some things have their priorities straight,” George quipped, flexing his newly healed wrist.  
Lupin looked at them evenly as he worked on George’s other wrist. “You thought something took over your brother in an attempt to get to Harry and didn’t tell anyone?”  
“To be fair, Remus, Charlie and I are part of the Order,” Bill said.  
“But I assume Fred and Ginny didn’t ask for your help,” Lupin replied.  
“Ron’s involved, too. And Hermione,” Ginny said. Good. If they were going down, they might as well go down together. Perce should be here to see this.  
Someone swore from the direction of the stairs and Ron and Hermione both walked into the room.  
“I thought someone was lurking out there,” Lupin said with a small smile. “Well, if everything is settled for the night, why don’t I make some hot cocoa and you can tell me exactly what happened, and then we can all get back to bed.”  
Fred looked at his siblings, who all seemed apprehensive. George, however, sank into a chair with a smile. “I’d do anything for some hot cocoa right now, so count me in.”  
Well, if it made George happy, Fred would stay up a little longer for some cocoa. And if no one really relaxed until George apparated to his bedroom an hour later, who could blame them?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please feel free to show your appreciation for the author via kudos/comments below. ♥
> 
> This story is part of HP Creatures Halloween Mini Fest 2019, a currently ongoing anonymous fest. The author will be revealed in early November.


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